Days Go By
by Kanshisha Tenshi
Summary: I tried to make it L/Z but I guess I failed at that. Oh well. Lina, Gourry and Amelia have died and left Zel all alone. Poor Zel. Songfic. Please read and review!


Days Go By  
  
By Kanshisha Tenshi  
  
Disclaimer: I do not own The Slayers or the song "Days Go By" by Dirty Vegas. It is  
  
their only song and I wouldn't want to deprive them of it. So do not sue me.  
  
::You are still the whisper on my lips::  
  
Zelgadis rolled around in his sleep. He was having another nightmare. Sleep filled with  
  
horrible dreams had become a routine for him by now: go to sleep, be haunted, wake up,  
  
go back to sleep, hope it doesn't occur again. Tonight was different, however. He tossed  
  
and turned, and one word escaped his lips: Lina. Over and over again he whispered her  
  
name, until he escaped from the world of nightmarish dreams into reality. He panted for a  
  
brief moment, sweat forming on his face, eyes wide open and staring at nothing in  
  
particular.  
  
"Lina," he murmured, "Why can't I stop thinking about you? For L- sama's sake,  
  
stop haunting me!" He stayed in his bed for a while longer, allowing a few thoughts about  
  
his long-lost companion to flow freely through his mind; after moments of this he sat up  
  
and looked around. Everything was as it should be. He stood up and walked over to his  
  
pack. There he pulled out a crumpled picture of the friends he had once traveled with. But  
  
they were gone, he reminded himself. If he tried to find them and rejoin their group, he  
  
would be searching for all eternity. Only a mazoku could manage that.  
  
::I feel it at my fingertips::  
  
He stood contemplating the picture for a while, turning it over in his hands, straightening it out in places, until finally he placed it back with his other belongings. The memories coursing through his veins brought him back to that time, that place, when his comrades had died in battle. It had been a glorious end for the heroes, but what stunned Zelgadis was that he was spared. He didn't want to be. He wanted to join his friends in death- -his only friends. How could life be so cruel to him?  
  
Looking at the picture only brought back more painful memories, the touch, smell, taste, sound and sight of his friends. They haunted him during the night, giving him restless nights of sleep, making his days miserable. But the one that haunted him the most was Lina.  
  
"Zel, don't just stand there--help out already!" Lina shouted at the frozen chimera. He couldn't move. He suspected it was the Mazoku's doing. Zelas had finally ordered the Trickster Priest to eliminate the group before they had a chance to destroy the Mazoku race and their plans. Xellos had frozen the chimera in place so he couldn't use his shaman magic. He had gone after Amelia first for that reason. Their pure magic was what hurt him the most. Lina was being pinned in place by powerful Mazoku arms while Gourry lay off to one side, struggling to stand up, beaten badly. If he had had the Sword of Light he could have beaten Xellos, perhaps, but he was reduced to an ordinary sword now. No one had expected the strongest Mazoku general/priest to come after them, after all.  
  
Lina was trying fruitlessly to cast spells that would distract the Mazoku and get him off of her. Yet all he did was smirk at her as he pushed a dagger into her side. Her eyes widened, and she fell to the ground, coughing up blood, stunned. Gourry, seeing this with disbelief reflected in his eyes, stood up--with much pain and effort--and ran at Xellos. He raised his sword high...  
  
And the blast hit him square in his unguarded midsection. He flew backwards, hitting a large rock; his lip and bloodied form fell to the ground with a thud.  
  
Xellos turned around to look at Lina, who had a black blade of nightmarish magic in her hand. Though she was dying, she was not gone--yet-- and she planned to use the last of her breath to destroy the traitor. The Trickster Priest walked calmly over to her. She swung, and he moved out of the way.  
  
"Lighting!" Zelgadis said through clenched teeth, forming a ball of light in his hands, trying his best to aim it at his shadow. The Mazoku had caught him in a Shadow Snap. First the arm disappeared, then the rest of him as he freely moved his arm around. Safe from the trap, he ran at Xellos. Lina looked at him pleadingly. Xellos turned to look at him; while he was distracted, Lina plunged the sword of darkness into the traitor's back, and as if on cue, the two fell to the ground at the same time. Lina was a bloody mess, and Xellos had black ooze trailing from the inflicted wound. He was already gone. Lina was nearing the end.  
  
"Lina, don't worry, I'll heal you and--"  
  
"No, Zel. Gourry and Amelia are gone. Let me go in peace," she pleaded. "Please. I want to go with them. And if you heal me, so help me I'll Dragon Slave you to Atlas City!" Nodding, he complied and simply held her.  
  
As she faded away, a lone crystalline tear fell from his eye.  
  
"Rest in peace, Lina Inverse. I'll remember you. Always."  
  
And he cried no more.  
  
::It's pulling at my skin::  
  
Clearly he remembered that fateful day. It made his skin--though still rock--crawl.  
  
::You leave me when I'm at my worst::  
  
He felt a sharp pain in his chest. He had watched his friends die and had been able to do nothing. Nothing! His hand tightened into a fist of rage. They died because I couldn't help them, he thought bitterly, because that Mazoku trapped me--and then let me live with it! He's not even alive to feast off of my rage...I guess he figured he would be, and that he could follow me around and torment me until the day I die.  
  
I was useless. I didn't do a thing to save them. They've all left me.  
  
::Feeling as if I've been cursed::  
  
Apparently Rezo had done more to him than curse him with being a chimera. He had cursed him to be useless--weak. He had always thought himself strong until then. He had no friends now. He would not permit himself to gain any friends. He would lose no one. The pain would stop. He wouldn't feel so weak anymore.  
  
::With a cold within::  
  
He would remain cold, impassive, as he had always looked on the exterior. He would become as stony as he looked. No one would mean anything to him. What was there to lose if you had nothing?  
  
Yet, he thought coldly, why would L-sama let her chosen die?  
  
::Days go by and still I think of you::  
  
He thought of them daily now. Their souls sent him the nightmares that kept him on his toes, that kept him from forgetting them. The pain would never go away. It had been three years since their demise, and every day since then, every single minute, had been full of their memories. He would never forget them. I couldn't if I tried, he thought wryly.  
  
::Days when I couldn't live my life without you::  
  
And thus he continued his elongated life. He lived coldly, alone, wandering aimlessly throughout the world, killing anything that remotely resembled evil. The only thing that drove him forward was the promise of vengeance, strength. He would avenge his friends every time he saw the face of a Mazoku. Even if they looked at him they would be blasted. No heart, no mercy. His life was filled with nothing but vengeance and power.  
  
::Without you::  
  
And even as he lay on his deathbed, he thought of his friends, of how he would avenge them, and if he had failed them. The last thing he saw was three vague forms reaching out for him, pulling him towards them. It had been 113 years since those forms had been on the same earth as he. As he was pulled into their light, a smile graced his features, and happiness was known by him for the first time in 113 years.  
  
Author's Notes: What did you think? Best thing you've ever read, worst piece of trash to ever be seen on this planet, don't know (don't care)? Review it; let me know what you think! 


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